Amnesty International Urges Croatian Authorities to Investigate War Crimes Committed during 1991-1995 War

For Immediate Release

Amnesty International Urges Croatian Authorities to Investigate War Crimes Committed during 1991-1995 War

Following Key European Court of Human Rights ruling that Victims Can Seek Justice Internationally

WASHINGTON - Amnesty International
is again urging the Croatian authorities to investigate war crimes committed
during the 1991-1995 war following a key European Court of Human Rights
(ECHR) ruling that could allow thousands of victims seek justice internationally.

The ECHR yesterday found that the Croatian
authorities were responsible for the lack of adequate investigations into
the disappearance and deaths of two war crimes victims in 1991, despite
the country only becoming part of the European Convention on Human Rights
in 1997.

“This judgment creates a significant
precedent, allowing victims of war crimes committed during the wars in
the former Yugoslavia to seek justice before the ECHR if states do not
carry out adequate investigations into those crimes,” said Marek Marczynski,
Amnesty International’s expert on Croatia.

The ruling centered around two cases,
including that of a woman whose husband was shot by the Yugoslav army in
1991 in Vukovar.

Despite some evidence being gathered by
the authorities, no meaningful progress was made in the investigation and
2010 proceedings were terminated under an Amnesty law.

The second complaint was filed by Josipa
Skendžiæ and her children, Tamara Krznariæ and Aleksandar Skendžiæ, after
their husband and father was arrested by the Croatian police on November
3, 1991 in the family flat in Otoèac. He never returned.

Skendžiæ tried to establish the whereabouts
of her husband by contacting the local authorities and the Ministry of
Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ombudsman and the Vice-President
of the government. A local investigation was launched but no progress made.

The Court judgment established that although
the authorities cannot be held legally accountable before the ECHR for
deaths and enforced disappearances – as they occurred before Croatia joined
the Convention – they still had the obligation to investigate those crimes,
which they failed to fulfill.

“Victims of war crimes deserve justice,"
said Marczinski. "The Croatian authorities have been reminded yet
again that their ongoing failure to bring those responsible for such crimes
to justice violates international law."

We are people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights. Our purpose is to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. We investigate and expose abuses, educate and mobilize the public, and help transform societies to create a safer, more just world.

Further

Surrounded by a massive police presence, the country's top law enforcement official told a group of carefully screened students at Georgetown's Law School that, "In this great land, the government does not tell you what to think or what to say." In his speech, only announced the day before, Sessions went on to denounce uppity knee-taking football players and defend his boss' call, hours before, for them to be fired. We may need to upgrade the ole Irony Alert buzzer. It can't keep up.